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Genuine question. I agree with you. How many of us do you think there are?
To me it seems obvious that we can do better. We could have a fair, sustainable, non-hierarchical, global system, where the people making big collective decisions are genuinely prosocial and competent. Surely if enough of us coordinated our efforts, we could bring this about?
But the older I get, the more people I get to really know, the more I find this to be a very, very rare perspective. Most people seem to believe in the current system. We must be divided into competing regional factions (nations) and within those have a power hierarchy based on wealth, and individually be primarily motivated by greed.
Let's be more specific. Which of these do you think is most likely:
folk like us---willing to sacrifice our immediate interests for a prosocial future---are common, but something is keeping us isolated (e.g., our communication networks---mass media, social media, etc---are being manipulated)
folk like us are rare, but most people just conform and imitate. If our goals were well publicised, enough people to change the world would get on board.
folk like us are rare, and most people are and will always be genuinely selfish. This system, where the strong exploit the weak economically, but in a way that leads to global economic growth, is the best we can do as a species, because most of us will always be selfish and short sighted
I don't think it's as simple as people being like us or not. I'd say most people put their interests and the interests of their families first, most people have trouble thinking for themselves and tend to identify with whatever ideologies they are most exposed to, and most people want to make the world a better place.
So
yes we are being isolated, divided, set against each other. Communication networks are being extensively manipulated, and potential dissent can be suppressed quite subtly like that.
I draw no distinction between "folk like us" and people who conform and imitate. I'm not an exception, though I do at least try to be aware of it. Formation of a large scale movement will make all the difference. Of course the billionaire class will fight tooth and nail to prevent this from ever happening.
Again, no distinction. I'm selfish and I benefit from economic inequality. But I can see that the system is working toward disaster. And I think most people see that to some degree. I don't think it is the best we can do as a species. The problem is that the world's most powerful people are mostly trying to stop us from making it better.
I don't know what the answer is but I think raising awareness matters. Perversely I think that some good may come out of the Trump administration, because it serves as a model of the abuse of power, and it really ought to help people see who the real enemy is. Maybe we knew all along, but it was more comfortable to live with it. Maybe we're at a point where we can't live with it any more.